Impacts of Hot & Humid Weather on Coronavirus
Temperatures or climates have begun to heat up in various countries around the world. But, will this slow or stop the spread of the new Novel Coronavirus?
World Health Organization and Various Medical Experts say that nothing can be said with certainty about. How hot weather will play a role in preventing the spread of the virus, and such expectations are currently not valid. However, according to a research report by China claims that hot and humid weather can affect the ability of COVID-19 to make people sick.
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Research:
According to research by the scientist of Beijing China says that the rise in temperature and humidity will reduce the spread of coronavirus. The reports of researchers reveal that summer and rainy arrivals in the Northern Hemisphere can effectively reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Experts use the term R0 to treat the spread of infectious diseases such as new coronavirus or infectious disease. The term RO refers that the disease spread to how many people from one patient. It predicts that how quickly the outbreak can spread.
The value of RO for flu is 1.3, while the COVID-19 can affect an average of 2 to 2.5 people. However, this value is not fixed but varies with different elements such as how close people are to each other and how is the weather.
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Scientists involved in this new study say that understanding the relationship between weather and the outbreak of COVID-19 may prove to be the key to predicting the severity and end of the outbreak. Research reveals that change in temperature up to 1 degree C and an increase in moisture level up to 1% can reduce the Coronavirus RO value respectively 0.04 & 0.02.
For example, if the virus has the RO value 2 so with the rise in temperature up to 7 degrees C can reduce it to 1.6 means 20% reduction. Researchers estimated the RO value of the virus on data from more than 40 cases in hundreds of Chinese cities from January 21-23. They examined the effects of the spread of the virus on different seasons.
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Researchers discovered that this value was about 2.5 in the Northern Hemisphere. Which was twice more than in many places in the Southern Hemisphere where the weather is hot at the moment. Researcher says that high temperature and high humidity in the air can significantly reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Life of Coronavirus on Different Object:
Earlier on 1st March, research published on the Journal of Hospital Infection examined the duration of COVID-19’s life on different objects. This report reveals that the rise in temperature can reduce the life of Coronavirus by up to 50%.
The possible cause of that a layer of fat in Coronaviruses protects the viral particles from traveling through the air to one another. But, in hot temperature, the layer becomes dry and the effect of the virus goes away. During the research, the researcher reviewed the most affected countries of coronavirus. Such as Italy, Australia, Thailand and America from 8th February to 29 February.
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They discovered that during this period in places like Italy where the temperature was around 9 degrees Celsius. The number of new cases was recorded 4 times higher than in other places like Thailand. Where the temperature was 35 degrees Celsius.
The same happens with humidity in the air, i.e. the higher the humidity, the lower the number of new cases. Higher moisture in the air results in increased sweat emissions. Which reduces the chance of evaporation in the air. While also making it harder for virus particles to survive in the air.
The results of the research will be known in the coming weeks, how accurate the results of this research. But, there is still COVID-19 is spreading in countries where the weather is hot. 1709 cases have been confirmed in Australia where the current temperature is around 24 degrees C. Yet there is very much to know about this virus. It is important to see how it reacts to the arrival of summer in Asia and other countries. Yet to know the Impacts of Hot & Humid Weather on Coronavirus
